WASHINGTON, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Army Reserve, taxed by recruiting shortfalls and war-zone duty, has adopted a policy barring officers from leaving the service if their field is undermanned or they have not been deplo yed to Iraq, to Afghanistanor for homeland defense missions, The Washington Post reported on Thursday.

    The reserve has used the unpublicized policy, first adopted in 2004 and strengthened in a May 2005 memo, to reject the resignations of at least 400 reserve officers, the report said.

    The memo surfaced during litigation over the policy. At least 10 reserve officers have sued the Army, saying they should be allowed to get out because they have finished their mandatory eight years of service.

    The May 2005 memo states that to be allowed to resign, a reserve officer must first either serve a term supporting militaryoperations in Iraq, in Afghanistan or for homeland defense; be assigned to a job specialty that has at least 80 percent of its personnel; or suffer a recent family death or financial trouble that would lead to serious, permanent hardship unless the resignation is granted.

    At the heart of the controversy is whether a law stating that commissioned reserve officers are appointed "for an indefinite term and are held during the pleasure of the president" gives the government the power to force them to serve permanently, accordingto the report.

    Blocking reserve officers' resignations is one of several stepsthe Army has undertaken in recent years to keep soldiers beyond their original terms of service, as today's wars place unprecedented demands on the all-volunteer force.

    Under another practice, known as "stop-loss," thousands of active-duty Army and reserve soldiers have been temporarily prevented from leaving the military, either because their skills were needed or because their units were going overseas.

    In addition, Army regulations have included broad language for several decades that could be used to restrict a reserve officer'sability to leave the service, including a 1987 rule that resignations may be accepted except during a national emergency proclaimed by the president or "other conditions which may necessitate such action," the report said. Enditem